Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cheese-cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Press the cottage cheese through a colander.
Beat the eggs together until smooth.
Add the eggs and all other ingredients to the cheese and beat until smooth.
Prepare a pie dish or several small patty pans lined with flaky crust or good plain paste.
Bake
Fill the dish with the cheese mixture and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 25 to 30 minutes for the large dish, or 12 to 15 minutes for the small tins.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cottage cheese + buttertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together376 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Cottage cheese + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together601 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cottage cheese + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together146 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cottage cheese
- Forms the bulk of the filling, giving the cheesecake its body and creamy texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the filling and set it as it bakes, giving structure.
- Soft sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps soften the set texture of the filling.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich cheese filling.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture.
The step that matters
Beat the filling until smooth. Thorough beating breaks up the cheese and distributes the eggs evenly, so the filling bakes with an even, smooth texture instead of lumps or uneven setting.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cottage cheese, cream, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Pineapplefits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cottage cheese, cream, sugar, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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